One Day Too Late
by Nobodies Have Hearts
Summary: "Either man up or get over yourself, kora! Because no one is waiting around for your sorry ass for long, if at all." Requested by/  Dedicated to UnwrittenWishes Skull/OC


**This was requested by UnwrittenWishes and now written for UnwrittenWishes. You are my favorite reviewer and when I post, I look forward to what you think the most about whatever I've written, even though you've only reviewed to a couple stories. (Um, that sounded really girly coming from me…Oh well. Awkward.)**

**Anyway, I hope Kat isn't too OOC even though I kept having to look at your description of her personality over and over again. And I hope you enjoy this too, because if you didn't I would actually be pretty bummed. I've never ****truly**** written a romance before.**

**On another note, I got a new computer today! Yes! This one is actually dying right now, so at least I won't go without a computer for a while. ('Cuz that would be terrible. ; P)**

**I'm really surprised I got this done on time. I'm usually horrible with schedules.**

**EDIT: September 27! I am now one year older and have accomplished nothing else. Hazah!**

_Today, I'm gonna try a little harder  
Gonna make every minute last longer  
Gonna learn to forgive and forget  
'Cause we don't have long, gonna make the most of it_

Today, I'm gonna love my enemies  
Reach out to somebody who needs me  
Make a change, make the world a better place  
'Cause tomorrow could be one day too late  
One day too late, one day too late

Tick tock, hear my life pass by  
I can't erase and I can't rewind  
Of all the things I regret the most I do  
Wish I'd spent more time with you – One Day Too Late, Skillet

There's a girl he sees every Tuesday and Friday on the corner between the pawn shop and an art studio.

He meets her every Tuesday and Friday at exactly 3:00 p.m. Sometimes she has an art book, other times a journal. Usually she doesn't have anything with her at all. One will start walking the moment the other gets there, immediately setting off into an unknown world. There's no real hello or goodbye between them, because that would acknowledge something they don't want to. It would mean they're purposely seeking each other out in giant crowds because they want to be with each other, even if their lives shouldn't permit it. If neither say it, they can't admit fault later.

Occasionally the two will hang out at the park and talk about anything and everything that comes to mind. Mostly they just head over to a small café and do the same there. He does a lot of the talking. She'll cut him off every now and again to make some sarcastic comment, which he'll reply to with a laugh and a witty comment. The girl will roll her eyes, smack him lightly, and the two will carry on normally. Routine.

When it's time to leave, they both get quiet and leave the small café. No one else really notices. Before they open the door, the girl, Kat, will stop him quickly and tell him he should be more careful when fighting because she can still see the old bruises and dried blood he tried to cover up before he came here. He won't say anything and the two will part there ways until another day to come.

Nothing changes about the way they act over the years they've known each other. Nothing changes except the conversation and clothes. It's not like they can't do something more next time.

And there always will be a next time, right?

After all, they've got all the time in the world.

* * *

Skull doesn't remember when he met her, exactly, the days blurring together into some garbled mess. What he does remember, though, is that her name is Kat and she has the most beautiful smile he has ever seen.

He thinks he probably met her during a mission while fighting and she took out one stray guy who was trying to run away because he ran into her. Or maybe it was when he had to repaint his room after sempai got a giant stain of what was probably blood on the walls and she was in the paint section looking for watercolors. It could've been anything, really.

Kat is a bit different than other girls he's met. (Not that he has much experience with girls.) She doesn't ignore him like Lal, or treat him like a child like Luce did. She's not weak like that red head that hangs around Vongola Decimo or ignorant like the red head's friend. She isn't emotionless like the pineapple girl either.

Kat is herself. She actually listens to what he has to say and doesn't hit him when he's wrong. (Well, usually anyway.) She can take care of herself if she is ever in trouble too, so it's not like she'll ever be kidnapped easily. She'll make jokes with him and agrees that his sempai are rather harsh sometimes. She-

"Oi!"

A sharp pain to the back of his head jolted Skull from his thoughts. Next to him, an empty can clattered to the ground.

"Stop day dreaming like a love sick girl, kora!" Colonnello yelled from behind him. "We have work to do!"

Skull pouted, rubbing the tender spot on his head. There was sure to be a bump there later. He turned around to face the blonde.

"I'm not a girl, sempai."

Colonnello rolled his eyes and threw another can at Skull's head which he managed to dodge this time.

"I'll believe that when you stop acting like one, moron. Hurry up!" Colonnello barked. Another can was thrown.

"But-_ack_!" The can came in contact with its target. Skull stayed quiet after that.

"Don't get distracted over some girl you probably don't even have the courage to talk to, kora!"

"Who said it was a-" Skull shut his mouth after the elder of the two held up a rock instead of a can as a threat. Colonnello rolled his eyes again.

"It's obvious to even the blind. You're always distracted, especially on missions, and you keep blushing. Honestly, the way you act is so innocent and sweet I can _feel_ myself getting diabetes." He shuttered slightly, despite the warm sun. Skull wanted to say something in his defense, but the threat of being hit again was fresh on his mind.

"You're more of a bother than usual, and the rest of us are getting sick of your school girl crush. We don't even see you that often!" Colonnello scowled. "I'm telling you this now so I don't have to later. Either man up or get over yourself, kora! Because no one is waiting around for your sorry ass for long, if at all."

"I'm not distracted," the teen called back. "And I never said I liked a girl!"

A shot grazed Skull's feet. Colonnello had actually shot at him this time. He had only barely managed to get past Colonnello's amazing aim.

"Shut up! We've wasted enough time on your useless problems."

Skull wants to retort, wants to say something back, but he's at a loss for words. Colonnello may be right, he may not be. Who even asked for his help anyway?

By the time Skull musters up a coherent sentence, Colonnello is long gone. As always, Skull struggles to catch up.

* * *

Friday rolls around with no other disturbances. Well, no more than usual anyway. Skull finds himself looking forward to the afternoon. It meant a break from his normal life and to meet up with one of the few people who actually understood him.

He's the first one there, so when Kat shows up, ashy hair blowing slightly in the cool breeze, he leads her away without saying anything. The park sounds nice today, he thinks. The weather is perfectly suited for it.

By the time they both get there, the small park is already filled with people. There are children, parents, and mostly, Skull notes, couples. This fact bothers him slightly, but he's not sure why. Couples were a common placement among the town and frequented places like these. Still, it seemed like there was an overly large amount today.

He shook his head. It was just his imagination and Colonnello's words getting to him. Even as he told himself this, Skull looked over at Kat to see if she had noticed anything. She was fiddling with something in her hoodie, most likely a phone. It didn't seem like she had caught on.

So it was just him being paranoid then. Great.

The second their feet touch the grass leading onto official park land, Kat started up the conversation.

"I'm _this_ close to my belt going up another level if my teacher would start paying more attention to something other than his precious dogs." She rolled her eyes. "I swear, he stops class to call home every five minutes to check in on his sitter. I can understand loving your pet, but you don't need to check in so often. I wish Sensei Kida was still teaching. He knew how to handle things…"

Skull pays close attention to what she says, probably more than he does even when on missions. Shifting back and forth where he stands, he didn't even realize Colonnello's words were still ringing in his head until five minutes later.

_Either man up or get over yourself, kora! Because no one is waiting around for your sorry ass for long, if at all._

Honestly, he's not even sure what they are, if there is a _they_ at all. The both of them go out, but not out, out. He doesn't know if she even likes him that way…

'_Sempai is right,'_ he realized. _'I do sound like a school girl.'_

"Hey," the girl next to him jolted him out of his thoughts. "You're oddly quiet today. Usually you would've been long into a rant about your sempai by now."

Skull jumped a bit, red staining his face. "Sorry, just a bit distracted is all."

'_Blushing, really?'_

"You're telling me." Kat mumbled under her breath. "Anyway," she continued, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." That earned him a light smack. "Ow!"

"Don't be a smart alek and that didn't hurt." She rolled her eyes again, but a small smile graced her lips. Skull almost swore his heart stopped for a moment. Kat pulled out a small pad from her pocket with a pencil.

"Anyway, can I draw you?"

"I, uh," Skull could feel his face getting hotter for some reason. Stupid body. "Sure, I guess."

"Great. I wasn't taking no for an answer."

"Of course not." She wasn't the type of person to do that, after all.

They sat down under the shade of a cherry tree, as cliché as that sounds. Skull was uncomfortably reminded about how many couples there were. He tried to ignore this fact and failed.

Silence was another friend of theirs hanging out today, though not awkwardly so. The gentle sounds of a pencil gliding across paper made all the sound really needed. Skull let his thoughts drift away for a moment, happy with how things were for the time being.

Suddenly, Kat leaned forward at an angle, face incredibly close. Skull was startled, but didn't move as he knew she wouldn't appreciate that.

"I need a closer look." She mumbled, though why she would need to be so close he didn't know.

And she was _close_. Skull's inner self kept whispering about how easy it would be to lean forward just a few inches and have his mouth meet hers. It would be so simple. He tensed, ready to move and…and kept perfectly still.

Now isn't the time. Of course, that's just an excuse. He's actually just too cowardly to take that first step, to scared.

The moment passes and Kat goes back to how she originally sat, completely unaware of the internal battle raging inside the boy next to her.

_Next time_, he thinks. Maybe.

* * *

Smoke swirls throughout the air, intent on suffocating those in its path. The blazing fire it is born from crackles and hisses, consuming the forest and the poor, unfortunate souls that are caught in its wake. A bullet whizzes by only to be joined by its sister not a moment later, any noise of the shot being fired consumed by the shouts and pained moans he was so intimate with.

Skull is dimly aware of blood seeping from a wound just above his eye, but he has bigger problems right now. Like the people with big guns trying to kill him, for one. He can only walk with a limp, though it's a miracle he can move at all over the singed grass beneath his feet. Despite the smoke shading his enemies and blurry vision, he somehow raises his gun to take shaky aim.

The familiar feel of the trigger reassures him as he fires off one, two, three rounds. Not a shot misses. Aware that any immediate threat is gone, Skull turned to have his back against the rough bark of a tree and slides down. He thinks there may be something wrong with his ankle, considering he can't feel it. Clouded vision turns dark around the edges, his eyelids fighting a losing war to stay open. All common sense screams at him to stay awake right now or you will not wake up, but that's not really possible at the moment. Odds are that this will be his resting place for all eternity.

And then it hits him, between his eyes sliding shut and the warmth of the growing fire getting colder. He is probably going to die here. While he has always been aware and accepting of this, as per the life of a Mafioso, it is only now that he truly understands what he'll lose by doing so.

The image of Kat leaning in so close underneath that tree dances behind his eyes, along with other memories of them together.

Laughing over tea at that café.

Having bandages wrapped over fresh wounds.

Making fun of how ugly those girls with too much make-up and plastic surgery looked.

How long ago had all of that been? It was only about a week, but grandfather time made it feel like an eternity had passed since then.

He wishes he wasn't so much of a coward that he hadn't kissed her. He wishes he could've talked more, gotten to know her better than he already did. He wishes he could've told her how he really felt about her in actual words. He wishes they could've done things actual couples did. He wishes he could see her smile again.

He wishes he had more time.

All feeling is nonexistent now, and he's gone with that last wish in mind…

…Only to wake up again, body aching, in a room that resembled Antarctica in color and luxury. A steady beeping sound bounced around the room.

"Am I dead?" Skull whispered to his self, despite how it hurt to do so. He craned his neck to search the room for any signs of where he is presently at. His eyes land on a blonde figure leaning in the open doorway.

"Oh. I guess I'm in Hell."

"Shut up, stupid!" Colonnello snapped. "You're not dead. Yet. You should be grateful you're even here at all, kora! Couldn't even hold your own against some worthless losers. Pathetic."

"That is just Colonnello's way of saying you gave him quite a scare and he was concerned for your well being, as we all were." Fon spoke as he maneuvered past the blonde in the doorway. The worried frown he wore melted into a half smile when he saw the teen in the bed, even though Skull must've looked awful.

Colonnello snorted from behind Fon.

"Like hell I was," he retorted, but Skull noticed he wouldn't look at either of them as he exited the room.

The moment Colonnello was gone, Fon's smile lessened a bit and he stared at Skull.

"Are you okay?" he asked, voice quieter than before. "I was not joking when I said you made us all nervous. You were wounded very badly. Not even some of the doctors thought you were going to make it."

Skull blinked. He knew he had been hurt, but it couldn't have been that bad if he was alive right now. He thought he had just been overreacting in the forest.

"How bad exactly?"

Fon hesitated, as if not really wanting to speak, but then went on.

"You died."

"What?" Skull sat up quickly, wincing as he did so. No, that couldn't have been right. He was alive right now, wasn't he?

"Your heart stopped for about ten minutes." The older man paused to let this sink in before continuing. "By the time the paramedics got to you, you were nearly gone. They couldn't get you to a hospital fast enough and you stopped breathing altogether about halfway there. Paddles would only hurt you more and CPR only helps for so long. Everyone gave up."

Fon stopped again, as if it physically pained him to keep going. "Then, suddenly, you just started breathing again on your own, out of the blue. The doctors said they'd never seen anything like it." Fon looked over at the teen almost tenderly.

"Your being here is nothing short of a miracle."

Skull nodded slowly, sinking back onto the bed. He had no memory of anything past falling unconscious. It all seemed so unreal to him.

"Ah. Thank you." Fon raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I did not expect you to be so…calm."

Skull shrugged, then regretted it. Damn shoulder.

"Well, it's not like I stayed dead and I don't really remember most of it anyway. Why freak out over it?" He looked over at Fon, who nodded in understanding.

"I see."

Voices on the other side of the door drifted to the hearing range of the two inside. They both recognized Colonnello and Reborn, probably up to their famous fights again. A mixture of other voices blended with them. The Chinese man sighed, but he looked fond.

"I should leave you to rest now. I hope you get some sleep. Please let me know if I can do something to help."

Skull smiled slightly.

"Thanks." He said as Fon left him alone with the heart monitor and his thoughts. They all circled around one person.

Kat.

His final memories drifted back to him, all thoughts about her poking and prodding at him. While he was dying, all he wanted to do was see her and her smile again, to confess how he really felt about her. But now, while assured he would be fine and living, would he still have the same courage to do that? He knew he wanted to, but would he be brave enough?

No, it wasn't a decision decided by bravery, he thought. It was decided on if he wanted it enough to risk what he had now. He could either be a coward and keep what relationship he has now with no hope of ever getting any closer or he could man up (as Colonnello would say) and risk everything he has with Kat now on his feelings that probably wouldn't be reciprocated. The logical choice from an outside stand point would be the former. Was he the type to go for the second choice in a leap of faith? (Or stupidity, some would say.)

Yeah, I think I might, he decided.

All that was left was to wait and see.

* * *

It's 3:09 on a Tuesday when he sees her again.

He's late and hasn't seen her in a few weeks, but Skull has just run the past mile so he doesn't really care at the moment. The buses weren't running, but he wasn't planning on waiting. Not this time. He'd already been gone long enough.

Kat is staring at the ground, arms hanging like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. She took one look around, completely overlooking Skull, before pushing off from the wall she's leaning on and starting to walk away.

Skull sprints the last few feet, body aching from all that activity after weeks of rest and a little therapy. He touches her shoulder and blocks the punch to his head she automatically shoots. Her face lights up when her eyes meet his, recognizing him suddenly, and he compares her to an angel for a moment.

She looks worse off than he last saw her, like she hasn't been getting enough sleep. Her hair was frizzier than it usually was, dark rings lining her eyes. Skull wonders if it was his doing, but decides not to get his hopes up. He's surprised she was here at all considering he hadn't talked to her in the weeks he had been at the hospital. You learn something new every day, he guesses.

He cuts her off before she can start yelling at him fully, her mouth twisted into a frown already.

"Hello." He pants, lungs burning from the run. He's just broken the unspoken law between them about greetings. The teen in front of him quickly tenses, though he continues anyway.

"This is going to sound really cliché, but would you like to get some coffee with me? Like, officially?"

Kat doesn't say anything, body frozen in place, and for a moment he's horrified that she'll say no. But then, suddenly, the small frown melts into on the most amazing smiles he's ever seen. He wishes he had a camera.

"Yeah…" She tells him quietly. Then, louder: "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

And suddenly Skull didn't care about not having enough time to do what he wanted, so long as he could make this one moment last as long as he could. Because all the time in the world really came down to nothing if you couldn't do what you wanted with it.

Skull doesn't remember when he met her, exactly, the days blurring together into some garbled mess.

What he does remember, though, is that her name is Kat and she has the most beautiful smile he has ever seen.

* * *

**Oh, that ending was **_**so **_**cheesy…I was going for something that tied in with the plot or repeated from before, but it ended up being…cheesy. There is no other word to describe it. I'm sorry. But, uh, I hope the rest was okay. **

**It was kind of awkward to write, so I hope it isn't awkward to read. The part I kind of hated the most was the "He wishes…" part. It was good at first (sort of) but then it ended up being really crappy in my opinion. But I'm not changing it because I think something along those lines needs to go there. Can you see how bad at this stuff I am? I'm not really the person you should go for to get a romance.**

**I guess that's it then. Bye~ **


End file.
